The Evolution Of The Roman Senate In The Augustan Period

As an important part of the political operation system of Ancient Rome,the Senate accompanied the country through each period of Monarchy,Republic and Empire.Particularly,during the republic,it's undoubtedly that the Senate is the supreme state power entity,So the Senate of this period has become the focus of attention of academic research.However,in the early Empire,the reconstructed Senate has changed in many ways,which not only maintained the stability of the imperial politics,but also played an positive role in the construction of imperial bureaucracy.This article chooses the Roman Senate from Augustan period to Julio-Claudian dynasty as the research object,then we discussed the changes in the number,composition and power after its reconstruction,and the relationship between the princeps and the Senate of the Early Empire.The introduction gives a briefly description about the Senate from Monarchy to Republic,for the sake of the readers can have a general understanding about the Senate's origin and early development.Based on the activities of the Senate,the first chapter analyses the threats to the status and power of the Senate,which caused by the appearance of the military parties in the late Republic,and also its responses.At this time the Senate has shown the declining tendency.The second chapter focuses on the reconstruction of the Roman senate which dominated by Augustus,including the reasons and the measures,and makes a detailed analysis about the changes of the Senate's power in the legislation,administration,finance,military,diplomacy and religion which compared to the republic period.In the third chapter,the writer discusses how did the four heads of the state of the Julio-Claudian dynasty to reform the Senate based on Augustus' policy.Moreover,this chapter makes an analysis about the decline of the status and power of this political institution,reasons are mainly as follows:the rising proportion of the provincial senators,the establishment of the imperial bureaucracy,and the changes of attitude of the princeps to the Senate.Then we makes an conclusion that at this time,the Senate began to pander to the princeps' will.In the last part,the author summarized the changing causes about the Senate's status and power,and pointed out that the decline of the Senate is not an overnight thing that it experienced a long and gradual process.Nevertheless,in the early Empire,the power of Senate has been divided and weakened in many ways,it played a positive role in the Empire political operation at the same time,and it provides a reference for the establishment of the imperial bureaucracy,these are all helpful to the peace and stability for the early Empire.But with the development and improvement of the Principate,the decline of the Senate is inevitable.